


From one end of the world to the other

by Katseester



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Incest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 00:16:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3708275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katseester/pseuds/Katseester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julius lies, and Julius kills, and Julius loves his little brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From one end of the world to the other

**Author's Note:**

> I finished Tales of Xillia 2 recently and it...was a really depressing game, through and through.
> 
> And then I fell down the Julius/Ludger rabbit hole and, well. Here we are.

He gets home sometime just before dawn, and thinks he might be up for a long shower before pretending like he's been here the entire night. His plans are foiled, however, when he steps into the apartment - Ludger is already up, busy making something that smells _divine_.

"'Morning," he yawns, feigning nonchalance. He measures out some coffee grinds and pours water into the machine, giving Rollo an absent-minded scratch beneath the chin when he takes a seat at the table. The rotund cat stretches out, meowing sleepily before curling back up. Ludger hums a greeting from the stove, too intent on cooking to formulate a proper response.

The evening paper from the day prior has nothing noteworthy, and by the time Julius is done skimming through it Ludger has deposited a plate of tomato omelettes in front of him.

"You were out all night again," he admonishes, a slight frown creasing his forehead. "And it looks like you didn't sleep."

"Well, you ambushed me before I could hide the evidence," Julius jokes, and the huff of breath that escapes Ludger's mouth, the small quirk of his lips, makes Julius feel just a little less dead-tired.

Ludger's hands are on him, hesitant. He brushes a stray hair behind Julius' ear, fingers light on his skin, and Julius catches himself leaning into the touch.

"You could at least take your coat off," Ludger grumbles, fingers fretting at the collar.

"Sorry," he murmurs, but Ludger shakes his head, smiling faintly, and brings his hand to Julius' cheek, running his thumb over the slight stubble. Julius turns his head to press a kiss to the heel of Ludger's palm, enjoying the embarrassed sound his brother makes at the display of affection.

"Are you okay, at least?" Ludger asks, and Julius has to avoid his gaze or risk answering truthfully.

"I'm fine," he lies, and doesn't think about how he almost didn't turn back this time. "And you?"

Julius knows how his brother worries, those nights when he doesn't come home - how he tosses and turns in his sleep, how he'll deny it in the morning when there's dark bruises painted beneath his eyes.

"Fine," Ludger responds, not quite meeting his eye, and just as Ludger can see through Julius' lies, so too can he see through Ludger's.

"Hey," he says, because he doesn't want today to be filled with tense silence and averted gazes, not when they both have it off to do whatever they want. He brings his hand to Ludger's wrist, touches the back of his hand, and it's not long before Ludger responds, letting his fingers tangle with his brother's.

Ludger's lips are soft when they press against Julius', and he sighs into the kiss, bringing a hand to the nape of Ludger's neck, pulling him closer until there's no room left between them.

"What say you we head to bed, hmm?" he suggests, words a breath, close to Ludger's skin. His brother shudders, and Julius thinks he might have just won himself a lazy morning of sleeping curled up with him interspersed with sex when the fire alarm starts shrieking above them.

As suddenly as Ludger is there he's gone again, leaving Julius grasping at air as his little brother fusses with the burnt omelette sticking to the pan.

\---

In one of the fractured dimensions Julius destroyed long ago, Ludger didn't exist. As a kid he had spilled a pot of hot oil on himself while trying to cook and died from the injuries.

He met the Julius of that dimension, a cold man with even colder eyes, and hadn't hesitated to kill him.

In another dimension Ludger's mother was still alive. He killed her, and watched the world fall to pieces as the fractured Ludger screamed and screamed.

In another, Ludger was older. Married and with a kid, but the kid was a boy with strawberry hair and blue eyes, and he didn't stir from his sleep when Julius approached, shrouded in his Chromatus, weapons drawn.

Once he met a Ludger who recognized who he was and what he had come for, but this was a Ludger who had never met Jude Mathis or his friends. His attacks were weak and faltering, and in the end Julius was victorious, holding his brother's broken body until the catalyst shattered and threw him into darkness.

Once he met a Ludger who wasn't Bisley Bakur's son, who wasn't Claudia Kresnik's son, and his hair was naturally brown and so were his eyes. When he greeted Julius outside their apartment complex it was with a warm smile and a brush of his lips against Julius' cheek. Julius let himself be swept inside Ludger's - his - apartment and spent the night with him, guilt gnawing at his gut, but he relished too much in the feeling of Ludger shifting and writhing and moaning against him to give a damn.

And when he was woken up by a shout from that world's Julius he killed him, and then Ludger, and tried to forget the wild fear he had seen in the younger man's eyes.

Once he met a Ludger who was alone in a world that was ending, a Ludger whose skin was mottled charcoal black and eyes mismatched green and red. The young man had wept, collapsing into Julius' arms, uttering apology after apology, and all Julius could do was hum that old lullaby to him before the scenery broke and Ludger was gone.

\---

Ludger's hands are on him, pulling his blade from the vulnerable skin of his throat; Ludger's eyes are pleading, _please, brother, no,_ and Ludger's mouth is trembling, lips pulled tight against his teeth in an anguished grimace. He looks like he wants to punch Julius, and Julius wouldn't blame him at all if he did.

Ludger's arms are around him, shielding him from his friends, the people who would take his life without hesitation for the greater good.

The greater good. What a fucking laugh.

"I can't do it, Julius, I can't," Ludger is croaking out, fingers fisted in his brother's jacket so tightly his knuckles have turned white.

Julius thinks back to a time where he wouldn't have torn the world apart to protect his brother. It's such a far cry from now - now, where he would give anything, _anything_ , to keep Ludger safe.

He wonders again, for what seems like the millionth time, how he managed to fail so badly.

"I'm sorry, Ludger," he whispers, and pulls his little brother's head close to his until their foreheads rest against each other. "But you have to."

"No, I can't, _please_ \- "

"Ludger."

This stops his brother's babbling, and Julius notices how the tears welling up in the corners of Ludger's eyes begin to spill over. He smudges them away with his thumb.

"It'll be okay," he assures. "Listen to your friends. You'll be fine."

Ludger's eyes widen like he wants to say something, possibly _how could you know that,_ but at that moment the pain in Julius' arm spikes - he pushes Ludger back with his good arm and stands. "You have to do it _now_ , Ludger," he growls, biting back a howl of agony.

"Julius - "

" _Now_ , Ludger!" Julius roars, and Ludger reluctantly shifts into a fighting stance.

\---

It's _his_ Ludger who comes back into the apartment.

He's angry, Julius can tell - by the set of his shoulders and his downcast eyes.

"You didn't give me a choice," he murmurs, voice low and tremoring with emotion. "Why didn't I have a _choice_?"

"I'm sorry," Julius says, and he can hear his brother scoff.

He wants to hold Ludger, wants to apologize and apologize again, but his brother is beyond pissed and beyond tormented, and Julius wants to make this as easy as possible for him.

"I would have - I would have protected you. To the death," Ludger says, hands balling into shaking fists. "Why did you make me fight? Why did I have to - to - "

He can't finish the sentence.

"That's what I love about you," Julius admits, sighing and setting the paper on the table. He stands to face his brother. "That you would go that far, just for me. And perhaps some part of me wanted you to - but it's better off this way. Some things are just more important than protecting your big brother."

Ludger closes his eyes, and Julius knows he's thinking of Elle - the little girl who stumbled into his life and stole his heart.

"Julius," Ludger says, eyes still closed, voice breaking, and Julius - damn his crumbling will - pulls him close and holds him tight.

"There's not much time left," he murmurs into Ludger's hair, pressing his mouth to the crown of his little brother's head one last time. "You know what you have to do."

He presses the watch into Ludger's hands, and the familiar old tune springs to his throat as his brother, his little brother, who he would rend the earth from the sky for to keep him safe, changes form and fulfils his duty.


End file.
